3D Obstruction Highlighting in Hivemapper

Ariel@Hivemapper · Aug 10, 2016

What is it?

Objects taller than your drone are painted in red - see sidemap.
3D objects includes everything from trees, antenna, buildings, etc. at centimeter level accuracy. Note the metal spikes coming out of the egg shaped building. Even those are included
Currently supported metro areas include SF Bay Area and Tampa Bay (FL). Additional metros coming soon.

Frequently Asked Questions

This is a beta version and requires a device with at least 2GB RAM
How does it know if the objects are taller than your drone? We know your true height above ground and we also have a 3D map of all objects at centimeter level precision so we can determine if your drone is above or below an object.
Hivemapper is a free Go app alternative available for Android (link to download). The vast majority of photos and video features available in the Go App are supported in Hivemapper
Yes, all the essential status information IMU, Compass, connection strength, etc.
iOS is not yet available, if you would like to join the beta program, please sign up.

Full disclosure: I work at Hivemapper.

Lifted Chevy · Aug 10, 2016

I'm waiting for iOS. Looks cool and informative.

bbfpv · Aug 11, 2016

Out of curiosity, how do you compensate for the inaccuracy of the drone's barometer? It's definitely not accurate down to the centimeter, and I'd expect that would impose some problems with the precision of the stuff "painted in red".

tcope · Aug 11, 2016

bbfpv said:
Out of curiosity, how do you compensate for the inaccuracy of the drone's barometer? It's definitely not accurate down to the centimeter, and I'd expect that would impose some problems with the precision of the stuff "painted in red".

The data HV gets may be down to cm but it reports height in feet within the app. Also, the warnings are when the drone gets within xx' so measurements down to cm would not matter. HM uses the height of the drone as reported by it's barometer. But as long as your barometer is functioning normally, even if it's 1 or 2 feet off the warning from HV would still work just fine.

bbfpv · Aug 11, 2016

tcope said:
The data HV gets may be down to cm but it reports height in feet within the app. Also, the warnings are when the drone gets within xx' so measurements down to cm would not matter. HM uses the height of the drone as reported by it's barometer. But as long as your barometer is functioning normally, even if it's 1 or 2 feet off the warning from HV would still work just fine.

Gotcha. Never used the app, was just curious how it was accounted for. Makes sense.

tcope · Aug 11, 2016

bbfpv said:
Gotcha. Never used the app, was just curious how it was accounted for. Makes sense.

I like testing and reviewing app. I can say that I've tested HV. I've not put out a review after testing. Yup. However, they have updated the app and I've not gone back to try it out yet.

thunderbird · Aug 11, 2016

Can u use dji go app and hive gives you warning about obstruction?

uBuyWeRush
payload release mechanism

Ariel@Hivemapper · Aug 11, 2016

thunderbird said:
Can u use dji go app and hive gives you warning about obstruction?

No. We provide most of the photo and video features in Hivemapper and if you are flying a P4 you will get the real-time vision alerts.

bbfpv · Aug 11, 2016

Ariel@Hivemapper said:
Good question. We don't use the barometer which as you point out can have significant accuracy issues.

While our 3D data is centimeter level accurate the method we use to determine your drone's height is not (yet) centimeter level, so we compensate for this accordingly in our calculations.

Very interesting. So you're calculating position based on stick input then, I assume? That's gotta be some pretty clever math.

JTC · Aug 11, 2016

I downloaded it and fired it up. The video feed is very intermittent and I am afraid to fly it. I checked my drone on DJI Go and all was good.

Ariel@Hivemapper · Aug 11, 2016

JTC said:
I downloaded it and fired it up. The video feed is very intermittent and I am afraid to fly it. I checked my drone on DJI Go and all was good.

What device are you flying with?

CANEKiTA · Aug 11, 2016

Tried the app indoors and it kept auto switching between photo and video.
P3p on 1.4.10

Ariel@Hivemapper · Aug 11, 2016

CANEKiTA said:
Tried the app indoors and it kept auto switching between photo and video.
P3p on 1.4.10

Thanks. We are aware of this issue. Fix coming shortly for this issue.

JTC · Aug 12, 2016

Ariel@Hivemapper said:
What device are you flying with?

I am using a P3 Standard with a Samsung Tab A. I really want this to work as I can see the potentials.

Ariel@Hivemapper · Aug 12, 2016

JTC said:
I am using a P3 Standard with a Samsung Tab A. I really want this to work as I can see the potentials.

For P3 Standard you will first need to create an offline map within the Hivemapper Android app (link to instructions). We just released offline maps into beta so if you have issues with them please contact me directly ariel at hivemapper dot com

Once you have created an offline map within Hivemapper then proceed as usual, but instead of opening the Go app connect to the Hivemapper app.

zander lane · Aug 12, 2016

...do you have a rough estimate when the ios version will be available?

Ariel@Hivemapper · Aug 12, 2016

zander lane said:
...do you have a rough estimate when the ios version will be available?

It will not be in 2016. Likely early 2017.

zander lane · Aug 12, 2016

...oh well, my mom always said, "Patience is a virtue!"

...but looking on the bright side, there'll be that many more bugs squashed by then!

JTC · Aug 13, 2016

Ariel@Hivemapper said:
For P3 Standard you will first need to create an offline map within the Hivemapper Android app (link to instructions). We just released offline maps into beta so if you have issues with them please contact me directly ariel at hivemapper dot com

Once you have created an offline map within Hivemapper then proceed as usual, but instead of opening the Go app connect to the Hivemapper app.

Thanks, I will give it a try!

JTC · Aug 13, 2016

I just loaded an offline map and took the P3 outside for a dry fire! No props but turned everything on. The video feed was intermittent and not stable. I never got any telemetry since I moved the bird by hand. I tapped on the icon for the video since it was switching back and forth between video and still. I locked onto video but when I moved the bird, the video on the tablet had a great deal of delay. I took out the sd card when I shut everything down and looked at the video and it was good.